From: (Anonymous)	Date: February 18th, 2006 08:42 pm (UTC)		(Link)

You forgot a whole topic of why we hate the British.

RACISM! overall once of the most ignorantly and blatantly racist and prejudiced nation I've ever had the pleasure to live in. It made me never want to go back to your fair isle again.

From: (Anonymous)	Date: February 28th, 2006 11:35 pm (UTC)		(Link)
i love my uk

well if you never lived in it how would you know or would it be fair to say that it is just a chance to have a go at the uk.we have more people coming to britain because of their countries are so bad towards their people but nothing is ever said about their countries.so are we really that bad i don't think so sure their racism but there is in every other country.if you keep banging on about the past then we are never going to get anywhere and i'm sick of people coming in to this country and moaning about are traditions who the hell do these people think they are.I wouldn't dream of going in to somebodies country and telling them how they should be and moaning about there traditions whitch i find rude.

From: (Anonymous)	Date: April 18th, 2006 10:05 pm (UTC)		(Link)
Re: i love my uk

I partially agree with you, if you immigrate, you cannot expect to reproduce you own world and traditions.
However, if you take into consideration a french or a german or an italian coming to work in the uk, it is technically not an immigration within the european community and i dont think "they are moaning about their traditions" while in the uk. However, even "continental" european are the target of xenophobic comments in the UK (i unfortunately witnessed it). so maybe racist is not appropriate in your statement, xenophobic is a better word.
I grew up and lived in many countries including germany, italy, france, the US for many years and now in england where i have seen the best but unfortunately also the worst. You may think that it is an unfair judgment and that things are worst in other countries, and you may be right...however the problem is that one has high expectations from a country who not only wants to attract multi-national capitals but also goes to war pretexting some human rights abuse...that is the real problem.

From: (Anonymous)	Date: July 15th, 2006 05:04 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I wanted to write and let you know that your site has given me lots of food for thought. I'll be emigrating (to the UK) within the next year to live with my husband, so this information is most important to me. A lot of people have asked me why I am choosing to leave the USA and renounce my citizenship, calling me a self-hating American and traitor, but here in America patriotism and that sort of thing is quasi-religious. If one doesn't think the USA is #1...well, one is wrong, obviously. But that is another story altogether.

About racism, which was brought up, I do not believe the UK has a monopoly on it, nor do I think you are the worst. As a white female in the States, I have encountered plenty of rude comments, racial epithets, insolence etc. directed at me while living in the Deep South. Here, it is called reversed racism if it is carried out by a minority member, because obviously no minority can be racist! What a load of politically correct ignorance. Racism is racism, and it exists everywhere, from Rwanda where one shorter black tribe massacred another taller one, to India where dalits are still mistreated (the caste system being originally a racial system to distinguish darker skinned Dravidians from lighter skinned Aryans, at least to my understanding) and in the good old US of A one can be called any number of nasty names if one was born in Pakistan, Mexico or China. It's a natural phenomenon, an ugly one, but one that will never go away. It's not as if one has no recourse if they are being discriminated against. British law doesn't allow that kind of thing. But are there more racists in Britain, than, say, Japan? Surely not. The Japanese are well known for their sentiments about the Chinese, Korean, and round eyes.

Sometimes racism can be veiled in such a way as to not be called racism when it benefits those it is directed against. I think it's a racist policy that Asian students at Coventry University get special treatment during Ramadan. I wonder if these were white muslims if the university would care to accomadate them in such a way as to give them higher marks because they were fasting, and they could have done better were they not, etc.

All in all, I think of Britain as a land full of opportunity if you're willing to work for it. A land in touch with its past, but progressively looking to the future and sadly, a land in danger of being destroyed by generations of chavs and their out-of-wedlock kids growing up on estates. A mix of good and bad, all in all, but mostly good, and I am anxiously awaiting the day I can live there. I just hope American cultural ideas and political correctness, rap "music" about killing people and knocking people up etc. don't crowd out the Britain I have always dreamed of.

	From: vexen	Date: July 15th, 2006 05:36 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Thanks for sharing your comments and sharing your experiences, I hope your move goes well!